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If you have a dosing pump that does not have a calibration feature (like the Bubble Magus or Jaebo), you can still calibrate your pump with a little basic math! Even better is that it doesn't take much more effort than calibrating a pump that has the calibration feature. This is something you should do periodically - maybe once or twice a year, every time you replace the head or components, or if you change fluid types - and shouldn't take more than 10 minutes per head. You will need to complete each step for each dosing head!
Step 1: The Setup
Fill a small reservoir of water (anything more than 1 cup will work) that runs to the input on your dosing pump. On the output side of your dosing pump, set up an accurate measuring cup. I'm just using a Pyrex measuring cup, but if you have something more accurate like a graduated cylinder, use it! This is what it should look like:
Step 2: Prime
Make sure your pump is fully primed. That means after you get water flowing, letting it run for a full 30 seconds. Any air bubbles caught inside are going to throw this exercise off. After it's primed, make sure your measuring cup is totally empty (just pour it back into the reservoir).
Step 3: Get a Baseline
Set your dosing pump to run 100ml in a single dose and run it into your measuring cup. Record this number - it's your baseline. Is your baseline exactly 100ml (or close enough)? If it is, congratulations you are done and your pump was calibrated correctly. If it isn't, we are going to start calibrating. Take the number that you just got and divide 100 by it - this is going to be your starting calibration factor. For example, if you got 73ml instead of 100, your rough calibration factor would be 1.37
Step 4: Refine your calibration
Now we are going to attempt to get exactly 100ml of out our dosing pump by multiplying 100ml by your rough calibration factor. Using my example above, set your doser to 137ml. Now run it three times, recording exactly how much your dosing pump dosed out. Lets say you got the following doses: 104ml, 105ml, and 103ml. Looks like the original calibration factor was off and you'll need to adjust it down slightly by a little over 4ml. Since we know that the dosing pump doses out only 70% of what you set it to, we'll pick a happy-medium of a 5ml adjustment on the doser. Using my example, that would leave us with a final calibration factor of 1.32. Write this number down on a Post It and stick it to your pump - this is what you will multiply your dose by to get the exact dose!
Step 5: Verify
Multiply 100ml by your final calibration factor a couple of times to ensure you get exactly 100ml (or extremely close). Make sure your math is correct!
Using my example, if I needed to dose exactly 9ml of an additive to my tank using pump 1, I would simply multiply that number by my calibration factor of 1.32 to get 11.88, which I would round to 12ml. This is what I would set my doser to.

Hey guys and gals,
I have a 5 gallon pico (link is in my signature) and have noticed that the Alk has been running a little on the low end. Coral consist of softies, LPS and a couple SPS frags.
I recently switched to Tropic Marin Pro Reef. My Alk is testing in around 6.5-7.0 after water changes, which is a little lower than TMPR mixes up to. (~7.7) I was using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals with great success, but this is supposed to mix up at a much higher Alk and the batch I recently mixed and tested is only hitting high 7s in Alk. I don't like the inconsistency I am seeing in this batch. I also realize that if I continued using Reef Crystals for my usual one gallon water change, and it is mixing up at advertised 13 alk, my tank would jump from 6.4 to over 8 in a single water change, which I think is too much.
Two weeks ago, I tested the Alk daily using a Hanna checker and found about .1 Alk drop every two days. Below is the testing results I performed this past week after a water change; it looks like the tank is using up about .1 Dkh Alk daily. All tests were done with the salifert, and I used a hanna checker a bunch of the days as well.
Freshly Mixed Tropic Marin Pro Reef Levels:
Alk - 7.7
Cal - 425
Mag 1305
3/29 - After 25% Water Change (~1 Gallon)
Alk - 6.8
Cal - 395
Mag 1245
3/30 -
Alk - 6.7
Cal - 395
Mag 1260
3/31 -
Alk - 6.5/6.6 Hanna Alk - 6.7
Cal - 395
Mag 1260
4/01 -
Alk - 6.5 Hanna Alk - 6.4
Cal - 395
Mag 1275
4/02 -
Alk - 6.4 Hanna Alk - 6.3
Cal - 385
Mag 1245
4/03 -
Alk - 6.4. Hanna Alk - 6.2
Cal - 395
Mag 1245
4/04 - After 25% Water Change (~1 Gallon)
Alk - 6.55. Hanna Alk - 6.7
Cal - 395
Mag 1305
I don't think that water changes will keep up with this drop since after a water change I am still below 7 Dkh.
My question is, should I be dosing this tank or just perform larger water changes to keep up with the demand? I already have the ESV B-Ionic two part system, so if I am dosing I will be using that. If so, should I be performing a couple larger water changes first to get parameters closer to what my salt mixes up to?
Any advice or experience dosing such a small tank would be really great.
Thanks!

Hello,
I'm struggling to understand the relationship between alkalinity and calcium levels in my tank. I’ve read a ton about it but I’m still confused.
I have a high level of calcium (500) and low alkalinity (7)
I’m not sure how to address this. I have B-Ionic calcium buffer system with component 1 alkalinity and component 2 calcium but I’ve never used it. Can someone help me out? Specifically can you tell me what you would do in my situation.
I have a 13.5 gallon fluval evo tank. I also have a protein skimmer attached
For coral I have some mushrooms and Xenia, a pink birds nest coral, zoas, and some leather corals. Additionally I have a coco worm (hard tube feather duster), a clownfish, 2 cardinalfish, and one tiny goby.

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I am wondering why my tank would have low alkalinity but normal calcium levels?
My alkalinity is currently 6.5 and my calcium is 440. What’s the best way to fix this? Water changes? I’ve been reading about calcium and alkalinity online but I’m still somewhat confused with their relationship and so I’m not sure how to address this issue.

I have a pretty new tank and my alkalinity is low. I’m new to the hoby and I’m struggling to understand what exactly this means, why it happened, and how to fix it. Can you guys help me out? If you don’t have time to explain stuff, I would be thankful if you could include a link to a good explaination. The stuff I’m reading online just has me more confused.
Temp: 80.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~15
Alkalinity: 6.5 dKH (0.5dKH resolution)
pH: 8.2
I have a fluval evo 13.5 and a MAME design protein skimmer.
I have a tiny clownfish and a small cardinalfish. One Mexican turbo snail, a few hermit crabs, and a pom pom crab.
I also have a small Xenia and a small spotted mushroom coral.

I have a clarification question regarding my alkalinity test. I have a Red Sea testing kit. I included a picture of the instructions and the reference page. The instructions say to add one drop of the KH indicator to obtain the “start” color. What’s confusing me is that my “start” color is a much lighter blue than the color they show. Should I add multiple drops to obtain the same color they show, and then start counting my drops? Or should I start counting drops right after my first drop, even though my start color is so light?
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated! I imagine this will be an easy question to answer for someone with experience 🙂

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Hey everyone, So I didnt want to hijack other peoples threads just to ask, and although I felt like I could infer the answer from other's posts, I didn't want to jump the gun yet.
Essentially I used to use the API GH liquid test to test for my alk, but I have recently got a Hanna dkh checker to start more accurate testing, and watched the videos I could on proper testing and what not. I had decided to start recording my Alk to see my trend in it. I noticed it drops .2-.4 dkh every 24 hours and wondered if its the corals or could something else be the issue? and if that drop merits a need to start dosing yet. I have been doing water changes about every 3 days since I started recording, to bring the Alk back up. the trend looks like this;
25g AIO
7.6 dkh 5/17 3pm
7.4 dkh 5/18 3pm
7.0 dkh 5/19 3pm
7.7 dkh post WC that night at 10pm
7.4 dkh 5/20 6pm (was unavailable to do test until later)
7.2 dkh 5/21 3pm
I started testing my salt mix after mixing and I noticed my reef crystals was 9.9 dkh 5/19 for reference and i do 3 gallon changes.
so another of my questions is if 8 dkh is a good number to shoot for? I noticed alot more coral growth now I am changing the water in response to dkh at or below 7. the thing that worries me is going much higher because I have a biopellet reactor and do not want to accidentally alk burn my corals, when I can get the biopellet reactor pushing my tank towards very low nitrates.
my testing from before water change on 19th was
520 ppm Ca (API Calcium liquid test)
7.0 dkh alk (Hanna ALK checker)
1.0255 s.g. (refractometer I calibrate with fluid before all testing)
0-0.03 ppm PO4 (Salifert Phosphate test)
15 ppm nitrate (API liquid test)
are these okay parameters to have? I use chaeto in a chamber, starting up biopellets, a protein skimmer, and water changes for nutrient export. my corals dont seem unhealthy, and I think since being more frequent with the water changes its helped alot with growth in my pocillopora and branching montipora.
anyways, thanks to everyone who responds,

Hey everyone!
I'm looking into setting up a basic dosing regimen for my tank using Kalkwasser and my ATO system and perhaps moving to 2-part dosing in the future when the tanks needs require it. The tank is a IM 20 fusion (guessing it has about 15 gal of water in it). The tank has been up and running for about 10 months and has had decent growth throughout most of the past 10 months. However, things seem to have begun to slow down recently. Additionally, all the zoanthids have been struggling for quite some time.
I've been pretty diligent with water changes, usually changing about 2.5 gal once a week, assuming this would be sufficient to replenish the tanks calcium and alk needs and falling into the lazy reefer syndrome of not testing but once a month.
However, I tested the tank this past Sunday (3 days after a water change) and got the following results:
pH - 7.85
Alk - 5.7 dKH
Ca - 390 ppm
I performed a large water change yesterday (I've always used Coral Pro Salt) and was able to bring the Alk back up to a more acceptable 7.4 dKH. I'm going to test again today to see what the daily usage looks like. Currently, i'm planning to follow BRS's recommendation of: Low Demand - 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of top off water and go from there.
I've always been super hesitant to start dosing since doing it wrong can have such dire consequences. However, since the overarching goal is to start introducing SPS into this tank, this is definitely a bridge I need to cross.
So, with all that being said, does anyone have any advice / lessons learned to get started dosing Kalk?
Cheers!

Hey guys,
Anyone else frustrated with the red sea Alkalinity test kit. My new one recently has a final colour of Yellow/green. And no matter how many times I do it I just cant get a semi accurate reading of the colour change.. Before it used to turn from Blue to Red if I remember correctly. (has made me stop testing as pointless getting in-accurate readings :/
Debating switching to a Hanna Alk tester. But some people Ive spoken to say its not that good either..
Any thoughts or recommendations.

Hello
I've just done a set of test crica. 30 mins after a 10% water change, and plan to do one every day until my next change (1 week) to see if there's anything I can spot that could be causing my algae issues, as well as try to find out why my Duncan is sulking (has been for about 2 weeks).
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite 0
pH - 7.6
Alkalinity - 9
As you can see, my nitrate levels are slightly high, which could be causing my algae issues. I will try to stick to feeding every other day, and skimming slightly wetter to see if that helps.
The main issue however is my pH and alkalinity. These are clearly slightly lower than would be considered ideal. How might I go about bringing them up a touch?
I'll continue to test for a week and see if instability could be the cause of my Duncan issues.
Any advice I'd be grateful of!

Hi Guys,
On my new 20 gal tank, I notice a large Alkalinity suck from my water.
My salt (Instant Ocean) - naturally has ~10 or so dKH
On Sunday (2 days ago) - I was at 7 dKH, I did a water change and got up to 7.5 dKH.
I tested this this morning, I was about 6.5 dKH.
I am guessing this means I lose between 0.5 - 1 dKH per day in Alkalinity.
I assume this Alk suck is because my tank is about 3 weeks old, and is growing bacteria like mad, and the by-product is consuming Alk.
I have a single LPS, and its brand new, not even open. I don't want to further stress him with low Alk, swinging pH, or low Ca.
Its going to get tedious to try and correct via water changes, so I am thinking about dosing my tank to keep carbonate levels higher (closer to 8.)
If this is just a bacteria demand (no / very low Ca demand) - can I just dose a Carbonate supplement?
Or do I do a 2 part to maintain Ca levels?
If you recommend a Ca supplement in addition - I have a CaSO4 dry supplement for my freshwater setup... Thoughts on using to dose as part2? (Part 1 is Seachem Carbonate).

Hi everyone. I've been having some problems with low alkalinity over the past while (a month? Two months?), and have been posting about it on my build thread, but it's time to get a wider spread of opinions on this. My tank is a 2.5 year old biocube 29, biweekly water changes of 16l with RSCP. The tank has softies, LPS, and several types of macro.
I tested alk a while back and it was at either 5 or 6 (can't remember). Oddly enough my coral all looked fine because it was stable I guess. The trend became that I would do a water change which would raise it 1dkh, and by the next water change (a week later, I upped my schedule to weekly from bi-weekly to try and keep up with demand) it would have dropped 1dkh. It was clear that water changes wouldn't be enough to keep alk up so I ordered Seachem Reef Builder to begin dosing. I measured consumption for a week and came back with 0.2dkh/day. I raised my alk to 7, and planned to dose the 0.2dkh/day to maintain it. Alk started dropping faster once it was at 7 though, so I started dosing more to make up for the new daily loss. @stellablue suggested that I keep alk at 8-9 for my LPS, so I raised it to 9.
Now here's where it gets kind of weird. It started dropping really fast. Between doses I'm sometimes losing up to 1dkh. I don't think that's from the corals, it's maybe 50% LPS (not even probably). I just ordered a salifert Mg test kit and Kent Tech M (in case I need to dose) which should arrive next week. In the meantime I'm letting alk fall a bit everyday because the higher I keep it the faster it drops and the swings are really pissing things off (like to death ).
Does this sound like a magnesium problem or something else? I forgot to add that my calcium seems to stay stable at 425-435, although I haven't tested it in a week or two. I can do that when I get home (out of town until Monday). I wasn't dosing for calcium because it wasn't dropping, but it was brought to my attention by @teenyreef that I should be dosing for both, so when the alk thing is sorted out I'll see where my levels are at and figure out how to dose.
Thanks for the help

Hi All, I had a viewer write in asking me what an Ideal PH range is for a reef and how he could go about raising his PH.
PH is one of those funny thing not many test unless they have a controller.. then some seem to obsess over it (i used to!). I ended up making a video for the guy and figured i would share it as i kind of did a brain dump on everything PH. hopefully it helps some of you guys out.